A female Air Force service member walks up to a IBM Card Sorter with a stack of punch cards. She loads the card sorting machine and presses the start button. Early computing punch cards fall into various slots. She transcribes information from these cards and hands forms to officer at a desk. Sergeant sitting at desk, talks to an Airman. View of U.S. Capitol building and Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Tourists look at Lincoln statue in LIncoln Memorial. View of National Mall and reflecting pool. Man takes picture of woman with Washington Monument in the background. View of the Jefferson Memorial, and then across the river in Arlington Virginia, a view of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Airman stands in front of church. Close up views of 1953 license plates on cars from various states including California, Wyoming, Iowa, Texas, Tennessee, and the Canal Zone. View of various embassy buildings in Washington DC. View of the White House. Large crowd of visitors walk down the North entrance drive in front of the White House. U.S. military servicemen riding in a bus. Bus stops at drop off area in front of Mount Vernon, home of George Washington, in Alexandria, Virginia. Sign board reads "Mount Vernon Home of George Washington." Service members touring on grounds of Mount Vernon, and exterior views of front of main house at Mount Vernon, with service members seated on chair on porch, and looking out at the scenic Potomac River from the porch. View of information center building at Bolling Air Force Base, and a woman inside giving information on sight-seeing to service members. Military service members standing outside the entrance at the base of the Washington Monument. Wide view of Supreme Court building. Another sign board reads "National Zoological Park" in front of the National Zoo. Tourists view a giraffe inside the Washington Zoo. 1950s car drives through shallow water cascading over road in Rock Creek Parkway area. Elevated view of a parade in Washington DC as military units pass in review.

View from moving boat on Potomac River as it approaches docks for "Suitland Hall" Air Force facility in Washington DC. Scene then changes to view of Andrews Air Force Base and building for the Headquarters of the Military Air Transport Service. A C-121 Constellation aircraft parked on airfield at Andrews Air Force Base. C-47 Skytrain taxis into parking space. Airman pushes hospital ramp up to C-47 Skytrain. Wounded man on litter carried out of the aircraft into waiting ambulance. View of Bethesda Naval Hospital and then a view of the Walter Reed Army Hospital building. Early 1950s era cars parked in front of the Senate Building in Washington DC. 1950s cars move by on roads and streets of Washington DC in front of Federal buildings. Exerior views of the Museum of Natural History, and of the Mellon Art Gallery and National Museum of Art. Inside the American National Air Museum, a close up view of the Bell X-1, USAF aircraft #46-062, nicknamed Glamorous Glennis.

Americans listen to a chamber string quartet playing music on stage. Vintage views of various famous American cities in the 1950s. Sweeping wide views of American wilderness with mountains in distant background. Elevated view of a river in America. A railroad marshaling yard with skyline of Chicago Illinois in the distance. Close view of two railroad trains passing in opposite directions in downtown Chicago with skyscraper in background. A city street in downtown Detroit Michigan with 1950s cars on the road. View of the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis Minnesota and the city skyline in background. View of Saint Paul Minnesota with river, bridge, and some nearby factories. View of Saint Louis Missouri as seen from an anchored position on the Mississippi River. The city skyline of New Orleans from a distance. View of Pittsburgh skyline with the West End Bridge over the Ohio River in the foreground. People walk on the grounds of Liberty Island in New York, with the Statue of Liberty seen towering above. Aerial view of New York city's skyline, skyscrapers and New York harbor. Camera view panning from ground to top of Empire State Building in Manhattan. Aerial view of Washington DC and Potomac River. Ground view of Jefferson Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol seen together. Steps of Lincoln Memorial and view of statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln inside the memorial. An eastern American mountain view, witha lake or river in the foreground. View of Half Dome peak in Yosemite National Park seen from a moving vehicle. Elevated view of a dense forest in the western United States. Pacific coast scene of surf washing onto rocks in a rocky area with nearby cliffs and mountains.

The White House past and the present. Aerial view of The White House in Washington DC in the late 1950s. Scene with 1950s cars parked and moving in parking areas and roads in front of the White House. Visitors walking on the White House grounds near the North Portico. View of a Birch tree planted by wife of President Calvin Coolidge and Magnolia trees by President Andrew Jackson. View of the south portico entrance and the north entrance of the White House. Plans and sketches of of The White House. Portraits of President John Adams and his wife Abigail Smith. Portrait of President Thomas Jefferson. Plan of the east and the west wing of The White House. Illustration of British attack on The White House. Portraits of President James Madison and his wife Alley. Portrait of President George Washington. Portrait of President James Monroe. Picture of President Abraham Lincoln. Footage of President Lincoln's study room, and his bedroom with its custom bed over 8 feet in length. Sketch of President Benjamin Harrison taking oath. Still images of ornate furnishings in the White House during Harrison's tenure. Still images of more simplified furnishings in the White House under Theodore Roosevelt. Picture of President Theodore Roosevelt with sons. Aerial view of the new west wing area enlarged for White House office use. Still photo of Theodore Roosevelt writing. Footage of President Woodrow Wilson signing a bill at his desk, with a crowd of officials standing by. Footage of United States Military officers and French General Ferdinand Foch and other French military officers entering the White House to meet with President Harding on October 29, 1921. (Foch was touring the U.S. and being officially thanked for his leadership in World War I.)

Montage of Americana spanning parts of the 1950s and 1960s. Science and technology in the United States. Scientists work in laboratories and conduct various experiments. Scientists look into microscopes and treat patients with scientific medical equipment. People relax at a beach and amusement park. People watch a baseball game. Spectators from behind the fences watch bucking horses in a rodeo. Playing golf. Ten pin bowling. Motorboats race in water. Water skiing. View at a football game, horse race, basketball game, and Joe Louis boxing. Ice skating with sails. Swimming pool and high dive. 1940s fashion scenes: Juke box; Pegged pants; bobby sox;saddle shoes and dancing to an orchestra. People Square dancing, fishing, throwing horse shoes, playing shuffle board and lunching in backyard. Americans enjoying parks with lakes, swimmers, boaters and lots of park benches, where they sit and relax. Contrasting scenes of poverty in America: poor tenement and slum housing; bread line food relief for the poor; criminals being apprehended by police in paddy wagons; African American and some white American people demonstrate by the reflecting pool near Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, DC, during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Demonstrators holding signs protesting racism, low wages, and poor housing; and advocating civil rights. Travel by Americans: People boarding an Air France airplane, airport scenes and people boarding a Pan Am (Pan American) passenger jet airplane. Ground level shot between art deco sleek passenger railroad trains in motion. People unload luggage from parked passenger bus. Aerial views of American highways with traffic and lots of mostly 1950s era cars and trucks. View of RV trailer park or camping area. Scene from moving car of undeveloped land and then of city at night with many neon signs for hotels, motels, food, and businesses. Vintage American suburban scenes of families tending their neighborhood yards,cutting their lawns, and raking leaves.

President Harry S Truman awards Congressional Medals of Honor at the White House in Washington DC. A gathering at the White House. Officials and awardees with their families. The recipients are Marine Captain Carl Sitter (standing left of the President when all three men are together) and Reginald Myers (standing right of the President). The President awards the Medal of Honor to each of the two officers. The officers shake hands and pose with the President. Officers with their families after receiving the Medals. Sitter holding his son and pictured with his wife. Myers' wife, Margaret, and daughter, Susan, and son, Scott. Myers holding his son, Scott. Major Myers was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor while serving as Executive Officer, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, in the vicinity of HAGARU-RI, KOREA, November 29, 1950, while commanding a group of 80 men who were stragglers and missing from other units. Major Myers' makeshift unit successfully denied the Chinese Communists the possession of EAST HILL, which dominated the key crossroads in the withdrawal -- attack in another direction -- by U.S. Marines and Army units from the Chosin Reservoir. Captain Sitter's unit relieved Major Myers' unit in the same battle. Sitter received e medal for his actions as a commanding officer during a two-day battle at Hagaru-Ki, Korea in November 1950. The fighting lasted 36 hours, and Sitter endured grenade burns to his face, arms and chest. He refused to evacuate as the fight continued. More than half of his company was killed, wounded or captured, but a successful defense of the area was mounted by U.S. soldiers.